About

Hardware I use:

• 2022 MacBook Pro M1 Pro 16″
• Native Instruments Komplete Kontrol M32
• M-Audio Axiom 49 (1st version)
• iPad Air Gen 5 M1
• Soundcraft Signature 12 MTK mixer/interface
• 2 Behringer UMC202HDs
• sE Electronics V Pack Arena mic set
• Behringer BA 19A Boundary mic (in my kick)
• Event Electronics TR8 8″ Studio Monitors
• Mackie Big Knob

Musical Instruments I use:

• Mapex Saturn III 6 Piece Drum set
• 1980s Zildjian 16″ Medium and Medium thin crashes
• 1980s Zildjian 12″ Splash
• 15″ Zildjian K Light Hihats
• 22″ Zildjian K Custom Dark
• 6″ Wuhan Splash
• 18″ Wuhan Rivet China
• Wind Wand
• Various PCV Overtone Flutes
• Bag of Toys (shakers, rattles etc)

Software I use:

• Apple Logic Pro
• Arturia V Collection 8
• Arturia CS-80 V4
• Arturia Pigments 4
• IK Multimedia Syntronik 2 collection
• Spitfire Audio BBC SO Pro
• Spitfire Audio Originals Epic Choir
• Spitfire Audio Originals Intimate Strings
• Spitfire Audio Originals Cinematic Piano
• Spitfire Audio LABS instruments
• iZotope Music Production Suite 5
• u-he ZebraCM Synth
• Native Instruments Kontakt 6.7
• Various free Pianobook instruments
• Lots of free synth or instrument plugins

Our family has always been musical. In middle school I had my drum set in our living room and I used to jam on them with my mom on her baby grand piano. I remember playing that big drum fill from In The Air Tonight on every song. When I was in high school, my brother bought a Mac SE, a Yamaha KX88 controller and a Yamaha TX81Z sound module. I would spend hours in an app called Deluxe Music Construction set moving notes around and writing linear melodies and harmonies and having it play out to the TX81Z. I learned how to program my own sounds into that TX module. Sadly none of what I wrote back then was saved. 

I continued with the drums all through high school and even played in the orchestra for 3 years. I also played in the pit orchestra for several musicals. In College though I started out in Industrial Engineering at Ohio State, I soon switched back to music and finally transferred and got a music degree from Belmont University in Nashville, TN. While I did write a song in college, I never really did anything with it. I have a few piano riffs I play when I sit at a keyboard, but they are just snippets and repeating progressions I like play around with.

After college I pursued graphic design and even started my own Apple consulting company. I continued to play drums in church but never did any real music writing. There were times when I took long, multi-year breaks from the drums but I did always come back to them. 

The closest I came back then to writing music was in 2003 when Apple released Soundtrack Pro. As an Apple consultant, I got a free copy. I proceeded to crank out all sorts of loop and sample based songs, but they were all built on pre-made bits. I had a blast with it, but soon grew tired of the small library of loops I had, and I didn’t want to spend money on more loops.

Somewhere in the mid 2000s Apple bought eMagic and released their new version of Logic. I know I had a copy, but didn’t do much with it at the time. Then in 2007 I was asked by my friends Nic & Rachael Billman to play on their Anthem album. We multitracked the songs and I ended up mixing the album in Logic for the first time ever. After that I played on several more of their albums and even mixed their “soaking” album called Immersed.

I really felt the pull to write my own music, but could never get it going. Then in 2020, after having moved to Nashville a few years before, we bought a house and I had room to set up my drums. Suddenly I was a creator again! I started a Youtube channel. I started releasing reviews and drum covers and finally around Christmas 2021 I released my own arrangement of Carol of the Bells. 

In 2022 I finally started to get get into writing music and worked on several instrumental songs, finally releasing one on Soundcloud. It was then that I decided it was time to work on something more serious. I decided to create an instrumental Christmas EP simply called Christmas. It would contain an updated mix of Carol of the Bells, a modern take on O Come, O, Come, Emmanuel and what I hoped would be one original, brand new song.

So now I’m back where it all started. Working in a fancier, faster program than Deluxe Music Construction set (and with a LOT more sounds), but still playing in short bits on a keyboard and dragging notes around on a timeline, writing music by ear just like I did in 1986. Only this time the rest of the world gets to share in my creations.

On December 16th, 2022 my Christmas EP finally went live and I’m excited to see where it leads. I have plans to release a full length instrumental Sci-fi concept album in 2023. Think of it as a movie soundtrack without the movie. After that? Who knows what the future holds, but I’m just getting started.